WORKSTORIES No.11 | Denise Daniels • Professor of Entrepreneurship
WHAT'S IT LIKE to work as a college or university professor these days? The academic workplace has been shifting in recent years, while its roots go back centuries. Historically it has been about the pursuit and transmission of learning. Professors engaged in teaching and in research. In recent years, financial pressures have greatly increased tuition costs to students—while governments have often reduced their support for public institutions (it cost $98 per semester in tuition to the University of California for a freshman at Berkeley in 1964-65). The culture and the economy have shifted the emphasis from “making a life” to “making a living”—work skill acquisition (pretty much by itself) rather than broad learning in history and the humanities. STEM programs (science, technology, engineering, and math) and business majors are the popular paths to good job opportunities.
The rise of distance, online learning has extended opportunities to many and lowered some costs but undermined traditional face-to-face and residential formats. The covid pandemic only accelerated these shifts. On top of all this, political and cultural trends (from both Left and Right) have undermined the historic ideal of universities as a place of free speech and the frank exchange of competing ideas and perspectives.
Our WORK STORY is from Denise Daniels, since 2020 Professor of Entrepreneurship in the department of Business and Economics at Wheaton College, the premier Christian liberal arts college in America. Prior to Wheaton, Dr. Daniels served twenty-four years on the business faculty at Seattle Pacific University, probably the premier business faculty on the Christian college scene. Denise earned her BA at Wheaton College and then her PhD at the University of Washington.
Denise is author of dozens of articles and co-author of Working in the Presence of God: Spiritual Practices for Everyday Work (2019). With two co-authors, Denise’s next book, Religion in a Changing Workplace, is scheduled for publication by Oxford Press this year. She is also under contract with InterVarsity Press to produce a book entitled A New Approach to Faith at Work.
How does a Christian navigate the new realities of being a college professor? How does one balance the demands of research with those of teaching? How does this work and calling relate to one’s broader life texture of friends, family, church, and community?
What’s faith got to do with work as a professor and researcher? Watch above and find out!
The rise of distance, online learning has extended opportunities to many and lowered some costs but undermined traditional face-to-face and residential formats. The covid pandemic only accelerated these shifts. On top of all this, political and cultural trends (from both Left and Right) have undermined the historic ideal of universities as a place of free speech and the frank exchange of competing ideas and perspectives.
Our WORK STORY is from Denise Daniels, since 2020 Professor of Entrepreneurship in the department of Business and Economics at Wheaton College, the premier Christian liberal arts college in America. Prior to Wheaton, Dr. Daniels served twenty-four years on the business faculty at Seattle Pacific University, probably the premier business faculty on the Christian college scene. Denise earned her BA at Wheaton College and then her PhD at the University of Washington.
Denise is author of dozens of articles and co-author of Working in the Presence of God: Spiritual Practices for Everyday Work (2019). With two co-authors, Denise’s next book, Religion in a Changing Workplace, is scheduled for publication by Oxford Press this year. She is also under contract with InterVarsity Press to produce a book entitled A New Approach to Faith at Work.
How does a Christian navigate the new realities of being a college professor? How does one balance the demands of research with those of teaching? How does this work and calling relate to one’s broader life texture of friends, family, church, and community?
What’s faith got to do with work as a professor and researcher? Watch above and find out!
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